March

Grandma Core: Miu Miu Makes the Case for Dressing Like A Grandmother

By avi maxwel / in Case, Core, Dressing, Grandma, Grandmother, Miu /

The nostalgic trend is all about repurposing what you already have.

By Natalie Michie

Date March 8, 2023

Growing up, I always found a sense of serenity in my grandmother’s vanity dresser. Sitting on her bed, I relished examining the antique wooden triptych mirror, which sat adorned with hanging pendants and delicate silver chains. Her shelf was cluttered with colorful trinkets and tiny boxes that spilled open to reveal little treasures gathered over time. To me, it is a picture of personal style carefully cultivated through the decades. This is the ethos of grandmother fashion, which is set to be a defining trend in 2023.

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Look no further than Miu Miu. To close out Paris Fashion Week, the Italian luxury brand enlisted stars like Mia Goth, Emma Corrin and Zara Wade to champion grandmotherly style. The now-viral runway presentation was peppered with messily tucked-in cardigans, glasses, and cozy knitwear. As they walked, the models carried big purses that looked stuffed to the brim with doodads of all sorts. Hard candy, anyone?

Designer Miuccia Prada is known for using her shows to champion a specific aesthetic, not just clothes. Last year, the brand’s seminal micro mini was the final catalyst to the zeitgeist’s (somewhat fraught) revival of Y2K styles. But this season, a decidedly more demure oeuvre is set to reverberate through pop culture: the grandmother.

on TikTok, #grandmacore has over 145 million views at the time of publishing, with top videos discussing the beauty of grandmotherly slow living. why? Times are tough, and many young people are yearning for a more simple, nostalgic lifestyle. Think: doing puzzles in your spare time; having a deep appreciation for good-quality socks; bird watching. All in all, it’s about taking a little extra care and finding loveliness in the day-to-day. And that extends to getting dressed.

Grandma’s core outfits are often made up of chunky sweaters, billowing nightgowns, and patchwork patterns, while the home decor in the aesthetic comprises patchwork-covered shelves, intricate watercolor paintings, and floral duvets. These visuals coincide with Gen Z’s ongoing love affair with thrifting and the rise in vintage home decor, as predicated by Pinterest. And this old-is-new-again ethos has been dominating fashion for months.

Rosettes are everywhere. Brooches have become a coveted accessory. Mismatched layering dominated street style at fashion month. Now, grandma core is even infiltrating viral fashion moments. On February 2, Emma Chamberlain was trending after opting for a “grandma aesthetic” at Spotify’s pre-Grammy performance party. Layering a collared button-up under a lumpy knit vest and accessorizing with a thin brown belt, the sensible getup seemed out of place for a flashy Hollywood event. But it won’t be for long.

A month later, the Instagram platform @boldberlin went viral after sharing a candid photo of two passing strangers — a young man and an (impeccably accessorized) older woman — wearing the same plaid coat. Both looked similarly cozy and stylish, proving that grandma core works

March

Bridging the gap between local retail and online shopping with Harvester

By avi maxwel / in Bridging, gap, Harvester, local, online, retail, shopping /

Haley Lena
hlena@coloradocommunitymedia.com

When local businesses started to close down due to the pandemic, University of Denver student John-Paul Evans wanted to help. Three years later, Evans, who grew up in Parker, launched harvestersa website that connects shoppers to their local businesses.

While talking with an owner of a running shoe store, Evans learned that many business closures were influenced by the pandemic, but the problem started years before COVID-19.

“The issue kind of started back around 2012, 2013 when online shopping kind of took off and especially online shopping with large retailers,” said Evans.

As Evans saw that online shopping made shopping too convenient of an option compared to shopping at local businesses, he began to think of a way to make it more convenient to shop locally online and make it an easy process.

For over a year, Evans tried to make different apps and played around with websites. Through Harvester, it created a marketplace that allows shoppers to search and browse products directly from local shops.

Harvester launched in February and already has 70,000 stores on the site for shoppers across the US

“All the stores that are currently listed on Harvester are ones that already have a kind of online presence with a website and they have their inventories up already,” said Evans. “I found a way to find a bunch of local businesses across the US that had websites with all their products and consolidated them all to one site so they could shop directly from that store on.”

With Harvester, online shoppers can freely shop trending local businesses by entering their zip code. They can also search for an item they are looking for and use the filter to sort by distance, price or relevance.

Shoppers can create an online account with Harvester and follow their favorite businesses.

The name Harvester was inspired by a machine that takes place in the process of deforestation, as seen in the Amazon rainforest. The machine is called a harvester.

“That’s kind of where I got the idea,” said Evans. “Because a lot of local businesses were losing a lot of their businesses to huge online retailers like Amazon. And so I thought, it’s kind of like a tongue in cheek.”

As Harvester includes local businesses with online stores, Evans said he would like his website to expand to a point where stores that do not have an online presence will join Harvester.

Evans hopes to grow the number of users so he can adjust the app as necessary to make it fun for users to come back.

“I hope to kind of put the fondness of local shopping in the digital form, kind of make the digital mainstreet of sorts,” said Evans. “I want to make it so any day of the week, you can browse your local stores and shop directly from your phone.”

March

Victoria Beckham on finding her stride as a fashion designer

By avi maxwel / in Beckham, designer, fashion, finding, stride, victoria /

Write by Nick Remsen, CNN

With her second runway show at Paris Fashion Week behind her, Victoria Beckham appears to be ushering in an exciting new era for her eponymous label, nearly 15 years since it was launched.

“I’ve been doing fashion longer than I did music,” Beckham said, introspectively, over a phone call from London just days after her Fall-Winter 2023 show in the French capital.

Still known by many beyond the fashion world as “Posh Spice,” her nickname as one-fifth of one of the Spice Girls, she is a celebrity gossip site mainstay, with a famous husband, David Beckham, and increasingly well-known children: Brooklyn, who married actor Nicola Peltz in a high-profile wedding last year, Romeo, Cruz and Harper.

Yet, Beckham’s brand, launched in 2008, has been warmly supported by the upper echelons of the fashion industry (Anna Wintour is a regular guest at her shows).

Having shown regularly during New York and London fashion weeks before making her Paris Fashion Week debut last September, she is certainly no fashion novice and her label has long been synonymous with a sexy and streamlined aesthetic — not a far cry from the sharp minis and sleek silhouettes that were so integral to Posh Spice’s look, although now rendered in an undoubtedly more grown-up, glamorous way.

The fact that her fashion line has existed for so long is notable. While Beckham has received critical praise in his tenure, it’s rare for celebrities without formal design training to find success. Even Rihanna’s ready-to-wear line, Fenty, backed by the luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton-Moët Hennessy, was shuttered after two years (though, it should be noted, Rihanna’s beauty brand of the same name is thriving).

Eva Longoria, Nicola Peltz Beckham, Brooklyn Beckham, Cruz Beckham, Edward Enninful, Harper Beckham, David Beckham and Anna Wintour attend the Victoria Beckham FW23 show during Paris Fashion Week. credits: Darren Gerrish/WireImage for Victoria Beckham

Despite her longevity, the commercial viability of Beckham’s operation has often been questioned — though it appears business may finally be on the up. According to Women’s Wear Daily, Victoria Beckham Holdings Limited, which is the centralized entity between Beckham’s fashion and beauty ventures, reported profitability for the first time for the 2022 fiscal year. In January, the brand’s CEO Marie LeBlanc also told the Business of Fashion that sales have grown by double digits over the last four seasons.

“I think that now I can really, truly start building,” said Beckham while reflecting on these milestones.

Beckham’s company recently underwent a complete restructuring on both the business and creative sides — from improved IT and digital planning systems along the back end to the lowering of prices (slightly) to a “new design team, new atelier and new members across every department, if you like,” she said.

A look from Victoria Beckham FW23. credits: Giovanni Giannoni/WWD/Getty Images

While she’s made many changes, Beckham’s commitment to quality control has long been unwavering: “I never want to rush anything. I think, ultimately, it’s got to be right.

March

Most Annoying Instacart Shopping Fails, According to Redditors

By avi maxwel / in Annoying, Fails, Instacart, Redditors, shopping /

“A month ago our entire order got delivered to someone else,” one Redditor writes. “And we got theirs. It’s really strange to go through someone else’s groceries. Sad part is they had obviously shopped for a Super Bowl party and we’d bought fruit and salads and some pantry items for the week ahead. I know the other people were more upset than we were.”

Another Redditor shares,”I ordered only 5 items with the whole reason I placed an order was to get sorely needed cough medicine. The shopper quickly refunded the cough medicine, ignoring my pre-chosen alternative substitute if not available. I chatted and asked him not to check out without getting a substitute. He also refunded a candy bar. I had to get in my car and go to the same store, and guess what? Both the cough medicine and candy bar were on the shelf.”

Another subscriber was irritated by the choice of replacements. “First (the shopper) refunded 9 items and said he had no idea where to find them,” the Redditor writes. “Then I got cottage cheese instead of ricotta (not even the same brand so not a mixup), pepperoni pork pepperettes instead of turkey ones, wrong deli meat, missing blueberries, wrong breakfast pastries, and I ordered 6 bottles of one kind of soda and 3 of the other and he marked all found but only gave me one of each. Like how is it even possible to get all this wrong??

Instacart shoppers, meanwhile, jumped in to explain themselves. “Instacart is notorious for showing us replacements that you guys didn’t choose, especially since the new update!” one shopper writes. “The new update shows us a pre-approved replacement, (which) 75% of the time the customer didn’t choose.”

Redditors still weren’t appeased by the explanation. Says one, “It’s frustrating when I ordered items like an energy drink and said ‘replace with any energy drink of this brand or of the Rockstar brand’ and then literally had all 10 of the energy drinks refunded at the end of the transaction. And then when I tried to respond they said they’d already checked out.”

“They just marked everything as found, then at the end quickly marked the other 8 items as refunded. I hate when that happens in general… they might not have THAT item, but it’s unlikely they will have no cauliflower or tomato paste at all. But even the ‘found’ items were wrong?” says another subscriber.

One Instacart shopper says, “I always replace unless there isn’t an obvious replacement. Most tips are based on percent, and refunding makes your tip go down. Unless they say refund if not available, it’s getting replaced.”

Another shopper explained that it could be an algorithm issue, with one unlikely substitution affecting a future order.

“While out shopping for a customer I explained that the type of hummus they wanted was out of stock and asked them if they wanted a refund or a specific replacement, and then

March

Fashion influencer shares style mistake which can age women by ‘two decades’

By avi maxwel / in age, decades, fashion, influencer, mistake, shares, style, women /

Fashion and beauty influencer Shea Whitney shared with her one-and-a-half million subscribers how women can age themselves unnecessarily with a few style mishaps.

Fashion and what looks good is subjective and honoring your personal style is paramount.

However, according to the influencer, there are some objectively aging garments and accessories that people can do with ditching in order to look younger instantly.

According to Shea, there is one type of handbag women overwear but shouldn’t.

She told her subscribers that handbags with pockets on the outside are dated and “aging” – “they look so not good”.

READ MORE: 66-year-old woman shares youthful transformation but gives warning

She said: “I know a lot of you guys like your organization and you want to have a spot for your chapstick, a spot for your keys. I understand the appeal but it’s going to age you by like two decades.”

She continued: “There are so many stylish purses out there – they are very affordable – and all you need is a purse organizer.”

She recommended investing in a “sleek looking tote” and placing a handbag organizer inside of it.

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This way, there’s lots of orders and a spot for everything on the inside, but on the outside you look “polished”.

Shea said: “You’re going to look chic, you’re going to look put together, and you’re going to look a lot younger.”

Her next tip was for the glasses-wearers among us. How can women wear specs without adding years to their age?

According to Shea, the key thing is to pick a style of glasses you love and “run with it”.

READ MORE: Makeup expert shares mascara tips that will ‘reduce signs of aging’

However, there are two styles to stay away from at all costs – “rhinestones and embellishments”.

The influencer’s next style tip was to avoid huge floral prints, opting for “dainty” ones instead.

She explained: “You see a lot of floral patterns in dresses and pants and shirts, just really everywhere.

“Florals are always in style but I really think that the big, bulky, bold florals make you look so much older.

“I don’t have any scientific evidence as to why but I think that as a general rule, big patterns aren’t really that flattering.”

Instead, smaller, subtler and “daintier” patterns are what Shea suggests women go for for a more youthful look.

Shea’s next tip for mature women was to avoid styles frequently worn by children, for example, “little cardigans”. While these are supposedly “juvenile”, they can actually have an aging effect.

“I think there are better options. You could wear all kinds of different jackets, blazers – you could wear a cardigan but maybe a little oversized.”